A foremost civil society organisation (CSO), Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to restrain the National Assembly from spending N40billion on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for its members and principal officers and N70bn as ‘palliatives’ allegedly for new members.
SERAP was seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to review and reduce the N40billion budgeted to buy 465 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials until an assessment of the socio-economic impact of the spending on the 137 million poor Nigerians is carried out in the public interest.
The CSO was further seeking an order restraining Akpabio and Abbas from demanding or receiving the N40billion to buy 465 SUV and bulletproof cars.
SERAP was also seeking an order of mandamus to direct and compel Akpabio and Abbas to repeal the Supplementary Appropriation Act 2022 to reduce the budget for the National Assembly by N110bn to reflect the current economic realities in the country.
In an affidavit filed alongside the suit, the Applicant (SERAP) insisted that Nigerians have a right to honest and faithful performance by their public officials, including lawmakers, as public officials owe a fiduciary duty to the general citizenry.
SERAP also averred that unless the reliefs sought were granted, the lawmakers would spend the N110bn and the travesty, and apparent conflicts of interest and self-dealing by members of the National Assembly would continue.
The group also argued that it is a fundamental breach of their fiduciary duties for members of the National Assembly to increase their budget arbitrarily and to use the budget as a tool to satisfy the lifestyle of lawmakers.
The applicant also claimed that while N70billion ‘support allowance’ was budgeted for 306 new lawmakers, only N500 billion worth of palliatives was budgeted for 12 million poor Nigerians.
It also claimed that N40 billion was also allocated to buy 465 SUV and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.
The court papers filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyer, Kolawole Oluwadare, read in part: “the plan to spend N110bn is a fundamental breach of constitutional and international human rights obligations.
“The planned spending of N110bn is a breach of section 57 (4) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 which provides that: ‘All persons in whose hands public funds may be entrusted for whatever purpose should bear in mind that its utilisation should be Judicious.
“It is also a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for members of the National Assembly to unjustifiably increase their budget at a time when over 137 million poor Nigerians are living in extreme poverty exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidy.
“Rather than exercising their constitutional and oversight functions to pursue the public interest by considering bills to improve the conditions of the over 137 million poor Nigerians facing the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy, the lawmakers appear to be looking after themselves.
“According to reports, no fewer than 107 units of the 2023 model of the Toyota Land Cruiser and 358 units of the 2023 model of Toyota Prado would be bought for the use of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively.
“The planned purchase differs from the official bulletproof vehicles expected to be purchased for the four presiding officers of the National Assembly.
“The proposed spending of N110 billion by members of the National Assembly is apparently on top of the N281 billion already provided for the lawmakers in the 2023 National Assembly budget. The proposed spending also differs from the N30.17 billion budgeted for the ‘inauguration expenses’ for new members.
“The budget for the National Assembly may further be increased as members are reportedly demanding an upward review of their salaries and allowances purportedly to offset the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy.”
The organization pointed out that Section 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.
“Under Section 16(1)(a)(b), the National Assembly has the obligation to ‘harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy, and to ‘secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen.
“Cutting the N110 billion from the budget of the National Assembly would be entirely consistent with members’ constitutional oath of office, and the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution, as it would promote efficient, honest, and legal spending of public money,” SERAP stated.
However, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit as it has not been assigned to any Judge.